Religion and Polish identity, in many narratives, are tied up together as one could not live without the other. Polish nation and its identity have been built upon a narrative in which the Catholic Church, as an institution, has preserved the national identity of Polishness and been in a key role in the independence struggle.58 Belonging to the Catholic Church has traditionally signified as one of the most important factors of being a Pole and belonging to the Polish nation.59
In Polish history, Catholicism was the central religion to Poland, albeit the country had periods where all kinds of religions were permitted. However, since the 15th century, during the Counter-Reformation, the Church established a new Catholic narrative in order to eliminate religious diversity.60 The Church's position underwent changes as secularism increased in the 19th century but maintained its institutional power. In the early twentieth century, the Church was at the center of the question of whether the nation should be multiethnic or homogenous. In the 1920s and 1930s, Catholics embraced the messages of intolerance and exclusion specifically toward Jews. However, after World War II, the problem of the nation's diversity was gone. The boundaries of Poland were redrawn that automatically excluded Lithuanians, Belarussians, and Ukrainians. Germans were expelled by force, and Jews perished in the Holocaust. Poland was now religiously and ethnically homogenous, and it was easier for the Church to promote its narrative of Catholic Poland through history. However, Porter argues that Poland has always been homogenous despite other minorities living inside Poland's borders.61
57 Kulczycki, 1995, p. 471 58 Porter, 2001, p. 294
59 Daniel, 1995, p. 402 60 Porter, 2001, p. 292 61 Porter, 2001, p. 293–297
15 During the communist era, religion was under the strict control of the Communist Party, and all the religious signs were discouraged,62 though the Church maintained its autonomy on some level.63 Communist writers attempted to re-write the Catholic narrative to a secular one. Nonetheless, as opposed, Catholic writers endeavored to embrace the narrative that Catholicism defines the Polish nation. In this narrative, the Catholic Church presents itself as the nation's spirit based on the historical narrative of Polish history as the Catholic one.64 Despite the Communist rule's secular tone, silencing all of the religious characters among the population was impossible. During the last decades of communism, as it weakened, the Church mobilized itself in society around certain groups – not only Catholics who practice but groups of non-believers, with the support and influence of Polish Pope John Paul II. In the 1980s, the Church expanded its cooperation within the society between institutions and eventually became a symbol in the fight against communism along with the Solidarity movement and Lech Wałęsa.
When communism collapsed in 1989, the years of consolidating its power in society was now absolute. The post-communist government not only legally recognized the Church's autonomy in relation to the state but announced social order based on Christian values.65 With the Concordat in 1993 between the Polish episcopate, the state of Poland and the Vatican verified the political position of the Catholic Church in Poland.66
Although Poland's and the Catholic Church's relationship is different and more profound compared to other Eastern European countries, the increase of religiosity was similar in many former communist countries after the collapse of communism. The renewal of the economic and societal processes resulting in social confusion and weakening living standards caused psychological issues and uncertainty. In this context, religion became an important element in people's lives. Increasing religiosity created a space for the Church to grow its social impact as the only moral authority to reinforce its vision on gender roles, abortion, sexuality education, homosexuality, and domestic violence in
62 Coleman, Sandfort, 2005, p. 6
63 Daniel, 1995, p. 403
64 Porter, 2001, p. 297–298
65 Daniel, 1995, p. 403-405
66 Misthal, 2015, p. 33
16 society and in policymaking.67 Religion, family, and societal institutions – the primary subjects of social regulations of sexuality, changed as the socialist order, one party with strict control, transformed into democracy and pluralism.68
The narrative that Catholicism defines the Polish nation has been more and more part of the political discussion since the 1990s. According to these arguments, Poland is based on Christian values, and therefore, there has been an impact of these values on constitutional legislation.69 Though the Catholic Church is a crucial part of the Polish nation, the current condition of the alliance between the state and the Church is an outcome of the long-lasting attempt of the Church to become not only a political actor in the society but part of the structure of the state itself. The Church waited the right moment to ensure politics of its view for becoming years.70 In this sense, it is important to acknowledge that Catholicism is a crucial part of Poland, which needs to be taken into account when one tries to understand Poland and its character of culture, history, and politics.71
3 RESEARCH DATA
My research data is a mix of reports conducted by Polish sex educators' group Ponton, reports from international actors such as the EU and the UN, and articles from the Polish media. Due to the position of sexuality education as a taboo in Polish society, the primary material is more or less absent. I have gathered the most relevant data available, and at times, secondary sources are used. Ponton has conducted the only studies that have asked about the experiences of Polish pupils of sexuality education.
They have three reports in 2009, 2014, and 2016 and all of them are conducted by different methods. Also, the results of the reports show merely the negative side of the sexuality education classes since those who were satisfied with the classes presumably have felt no need to share their information. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware of
67 Coleman, Sandfort, 2005, p. 6-7
68 Coleman, Sandfort, 2005, p. 6 69 Porter, 2001, p. 297–298
70 Mishtal, 2015, p. 34–35 71 Porter, 2001, p. 297–298
17 the shortcomings of the reports, but nevertheless, they offer necessary information due to the lack of any comparative sociological research in the field.
The first report of Ponton, "What Does Sexuality Education Really Look Like in Poland?"
(2009) has been conducted in 2009 through 637 emails from students from which 252 never had sexuality education in school. The questions that were asked in the email were: if they had such a subject as education for family life, if so: who led it (educator, psychologist, teacher, or an outsider)? Was the knowledge transferred worldview-neutral? Were the lessons within class hours or as part of extracurricular activities?
Were the youth satisfied with the classes? People who answered could decide whether to respond anonymously or with full information of their type of schools, class, and personal information. This study was the first of this kind of research conducted in Poland about sexuality education, and it has been cited in many other studies in the field.
The second report of Ponton "Test of Preparation for Family Life," What Sexuality Education Looks Like in Polish Schools" (2014) was conducted through an online survey to which 3363 people answered. The questions concerned the subject of "preparation for family life," its organization at various educational levels, the participation of young people in lessons, teachers who are conducting the classes, the teaching materials used, and the content provided. Most of the people who answered the online survey were women (74%). A significant proportion was aged between 21-15 (42%). Nearly 28% of people were aged 26-30, and 24% were in the age of 16-20. The smallest group was people aged between 11-15 (6%). This study's problem is the age of the respondents;
most of them were not pupils of primary, lower, or upper secondary schools at the time of the survey. The results, therefore, may not indicate sexuality education in 2014, but earlier. However, the study still is valuable in researching sexuality education in Poland due to the lack of data.
The third report of Ponton, "Review of the Implementation of the youth's right to sexual education. Implementation of Preparation for Family Classes. Pupils and Principals Perspective" (2016), was conducted through interviews in order to receive information
18 about organizing the sexuality education classes and its quality in primary schools and lower and upper secondary schools. For this purpose, qualitative research was administered in Poznań, Warsaw, and Zielona Góra with students' and school principals' participation. Twelve group interviews were carried out, three with students of lower secondary and upper secondary schools, six students with primary schools (three meetings for boys and girls each). In total, 101 people took part in the study, including 21 girls and 24 boys from the 6th grade of primary schools, 17 students and 13 students of the 3rd grade of lower secondary schools, as well as 13 students and 13 students of the 3rd grade of upper secondary schools. Eighteen interviews were carried out with principals, including seven men and nine women. Principals had experience in the profession from 15 years up to 35 years.
My research data will also consist of reports from the EU and the UN. I will use one report from the EU' Policies for sexuality Education in the European Union' from 2013 to provide information on Polish sexuality education. The UN report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, a mission to Poland' from 2010, and one report of the UN committee and Polish NGOs concerning Poland in 2014 are analyzed. Also, Polish media articles will be analyzed to receive a fuller picture of the discourse on sexuality education and gender. The articles have been chosen between the time of 2009 and 2016 by their relevance. Most articles are from Gazeta Wyborcza, the most predominant newspaper in Poland, and Polityka, a center-left newsmagazine having an important role in society's journalism. Furthermore, CBOS' (Center for Public Opinion Research) opinion polls have been used to find Poles' opinions.
4 RESEARCH METHODS
This study is qualitative research, which is a term for different approaches to studying social life. The data consist of non-quantitative material, including texts, interviews, field notes, documents, video recordings, pictures, and social media or internet sides that record human experiences. Research projects have different goals and purposes for which qualitative research is suitable by offering multiple observations, understanding
19 the complicatedness of human and social life, and the effectiveness of particular policies or phenomena. Outcomes may include a critique of existing social order or the inauguration of social justice.72 Qualitative research today has come into consideration of problems of analysis rather than problems of gathering data. The development has happened separately, and therefore it can be argued that qualitative research must be firstly understood through analysis. It is also worth considering when thinking about qualitative research about the reliability of the study. The entity of qualitative research is concretized into the problem of consciousness of subjectivity: how can I understand the other?73
The aim of qualitative research is not statistical generalizations; rather, the approach is the aim of understanding the phenomenon and actions, which can be theoretically supported, ending it to a conclusion. It is essential to gather data from sources that know about the phenomenon or have experience of it. The criteria to choose a source of information must be considered and suitable.74 In qualitative research, the collection of material and the choice of research methods is guided by a theoretical framework.75 Thus, the theories of this study provide a framework for research, but the main emphasis is on new observations emerging from the data. I analyze the data through content analysis, which is a diverse research method for analyzing texts to specify conclusions and inferences of the messages.76 My data consists of different texts, such as research documents, media articles, and reports. Therefore, content analysis and specifically data-driven content analysis as a research method are chosen to evaluate observations.
Data-driven content analysis is one form of content analysis that aims to create a theoretical whole from the research material.77
Content analysis is defined as a technique for valid conclusions from texts that are repeatable in the context the researcher uses. The findings that are made have many
72 Saldana, 2011, p. 3–4
73 Tuomi, Sarajärvi, 2009, p. 68–69 74 Tuomi, Sarajärvi, 2009, p. 85–86 75 Alasuutari, 1994, p. 209
76 Weber, 1990, p. 2
77 Tuomi, Sarajärvi, 2009, p. 97
20 options as they may impact the sender, the receiver, or the message itself. Content analysis is often used to identify attitudes, views, and interests, whether it concerns different sizes of groups or individuals. Many authors define basic content analysis as a method that is used for analyzing literal communication content. The main concept of content analysis is the descriptive manner of analysis and data organization.78
According to Krippendorf, contemporary content analysis has a new empirical orientation to seek valuable and valid knowledge or find reinforcing information for critique or actions. By examining texts, sounds, pictures, or other data, the researcher tries to understand their meaning to people and what their indication might be; enhance or prevent something. This is the core of the content analysis, to answer these questions, and for what methods used by natural sciences cannot reply. Initially emphasized material for content analysis are written texts but nowadays, the scope considers media communication too. Krippendorf argues that researchers can no longer limit themselves only to what is said in the content and in which channel and to whom.
Instead, content must be analyzed by thinking about what the authors put into messages and what the messages literally contain.79 As a research method, content analysis enhances the researcher's understanding of a specific phenomenon and helps to receive information on certain actions.80
There are different opinions on whether written texts are readable objects or if texts are objects that include informative messages through interpretation. Many scholars define written texts as several other ways of communication, including movies, images, social media, television shows, and other forms of electronic data.81 When analyzing a newspaper, one may take verbs from an article that describe a specific issue in a certain way. Negative verbs describing the issue demonstrate resentment, whereas positive verbs are connected to support or liking. In this way, the researcher can make conclusions from the data that are not said directly or are connected in another way to
78 Drisko, Maschi, 2015, p. 2–3 79 Krippendorf, 2013, p. 2–3 80 Krippendorf, 2013, p. 24 81 Drisko, Maschi, 2015, p. 6–7
21 the topic.82 One feature of content analysis, a strength, is that the data may not always be produced for research purposes, rather the data is original in its form. It has been argued that researchers usually select this kind of data due to its feature of minimizing bias generated by the researcher in the data. Nevertheless, the material needs to be carefully selected and consistently analyzed.83
In this study, the research data has been categorized by themes, a method of content analysis to systemize the data for different topics relevant to the research problem. The idea is to find views to a certain theme from the data.84 In data-driven content analysis, analysis units are selected from the data according to the study's purpose and task. The key idea is that the analytical units are not agreed upon or considered in advance. In principle, the importance of theory as a guide for analysis is related to methodology so that the methodological commitments expressed in the study guide the analysis.85 As going through the data, I have selected analysis units that are supported by the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework has guided my analysis, and eventually, I have been able to create a theoretical entity. As with all research methods, the weaknesses must be acknowledged. Content analysis is criticized because its mechanism and nature of coding are too simple without providing a coherent and comprehensive analysis of texts or phenomena. Therefore, the study's reliability needs to be recognized86, which I have done in chapter 1.3.
The process of data-driven content analysis in this study is conducted followingly: the first step is a reduction in which a document or other report is written open to remove irrelevant information. This I have conducted through summarizing information or grouping them into smaller sections. Relevant expressions concerning research questions were highlighted. Secondly, I have clustered the data by previously found expressions to units related to phenomenon or conception. Thirdly, after clusterization,
82 Drisko, Maschi, 2015, p. 12 83 Drisko, Maschi, 2015, p. 13 84 Tuomi, Sarajärvi, 2009, p. 93 85 Tuomi, Sarajärvi, 2009, p. 95
86Maier, 2018, p. 6
22 the data is abstracted; in other words, conceptualized. I have conceptualized my data as proceeding from the use of original information from linguistic expressions to theoretical concepts and conclusions. The data-driven content analysis is based on interpretation and inference, which moves from empirical data towards a more conceptual view of the phenomenon under study. In this case, the theory and conclusions are constantly compared with the original data when forming a new theory.87
Due to the nature of my study, I want to include as my background method critical discourse analysis (CDA), a multidisciplinary approach, which studies discourse through language that is utilized as a “social practice.” CDA is relevant to my study as it addresses issues of power asymmetries, discrimination, and structural inequities as manifested in the language in domains such as education, media, and politics.88 Therefore, with this method, I can recognize the structural inequalities and imbalances of power concerning language, for example, towards women through gender stereotypes in Polish sexuality education.
The most prominent endeavor to formulating the theory of CDA is Norman Fairclough's Discourse and Social Change (1992a)89, in which a social theory is constructed, and a methodological design is provided for critical discourse analysis in practice. As a method, CDA considers social order socially constructed and, therefore, changeable due to its views that history is relative. CDA also views that discourse is impacted by ideology (necessary to notice that ideology is conceptualized) and interpretation of texts through analysis reveals discourses reinforcing existing power.90 These points within my theoretical framework support my study for finding power mechanisms in the discourses emerging from Polish sexuality education. Discourse, like its definition, is a practice that represents the world through signifying it and 'constituting and
87 Tuomi, Sarajärvi, 2009, p. 108–113 88 Blommaet, Bulcaen, 2000, p. 447–448
89 Other studies related to CDA: Fairclough (1992b, 1995b), Chouliaraki & Fairclough (1999), van Leeuwen (1993), van Dijk (1993a, c, 1997), and Wodak (1995, 1997)
90 Locke, 2004, p. 1–2
23 constructing the world in meaning.' The meaning of the texts is traditionally defined as something that comes from texts and is situated and understood within the outside world. Meanings are also divisible with other readers. A new alternative approach to meaning concerns a view of seeing literacy as socially constructed that readers read as members of particular social groups. Various texts not only need different ways to read them, but the same text can also be read in various ways to produce different meanings.91
CDA is not an approach of a specific direction in discourse studies; instead, it offers a different theorizing angle. The crucial feature of CDA is the analyst's distinct awareness of their role in society and tradition that argues against science, where values cannot be thoroughly dismissed. Concretely, social structure impacts, and social interaction engenders scholarly discourse, including theory formation, explication, and discourse analysis.92 Discourse happens in two ways: institutions, situations, and social structures
CDA is not an approach of a specific direction in discourse studies; instead, it offers a different theorizing angle. The crucial feature of CDA is the analyst's distinct awareness of their role in society and tradition that argues against science, where values cannot be thoroughly dismissed. Concretely, social structure impacts, and social interaction engenders scholarly discourse, including theory formation, explication, and discourse analysis.92 Discourse happens in two ways: institutions, situations, and social structures